The Wall Street Journal reports that Governor Cuomo is attempting to make changes to state law that will ensure teacher evaluation agreements will not expire after just one year and help the City of New York and the teachers’ union come to an agreement on a new evaluation system:
Cuomo's proposal would clarify that the evaluation agreements between districts and teachers unions are subject to the Triborough Amendment, a 1982 change to a state law that keeps union contracts in effect after they expire. Mr. Cuomo was negotiating Thursday with legislative leaders to include the change as part of state budget legislation.
The expiration date on teacher evaluation agreements was a major concern for Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who believes that an evaluation system that expires after just one year would be useless. The quality of a teacher is the most important factor in a student’s success and Cuomo’s legislative efforts are an important step in the right direction, especially when New York City’s schools have already lost funding on the issue:
The city and UFT's failure to reach an agreement by the Jan. 17 deadline cost the public-school system about $260 million in state aid for the 2012-13 school year, or roughly 3% of the district's total budget.
According to the Journal, if a deal has not been reached in NYC by June, the state Education Department will enact a new teacher evaluation system for the district.
